Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599)

FULL little knowest thou, that hast not tried,

What hell it is, in suing long to bide:

To loose good dayes that might be better spent;

To waste long nights in pensive discontent;

To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow;

To feed on hope, to pine with feare and sorrow;

To have thy prince’s grace, yet want her peers;

To have thy asking, yet waite many yeares;

To fret thy soule with crosses and with cares;

To eate thy heart through comfortless despairs;

To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,

To spend, to give, to want, to be undone.